Christmas Celebrations 2012

  

This is what these two came up with to occupy themselves while waiting 

for us to position Kendall.

 Thankfully they switched over to some nice smiles for a group shot.

 The children's program at church.  Josie's group did "Away in a Manger" and "Oh, How I Love, Jesus."  Caleb's group did "Come on Ring Those Bells".  Unfortunately, Caleb was in the second row, pretty much directly behind a much taller kid, so no great pictures of his performance.

 Caleb and Josie were psyched for bowling with extended family.  I have a feeling the guy working the place was not so psyched to come over to our lane to retrieve a ball, fix the pin resetting machine, fix the bumpers...

 "Mr. Focused"

 Happy to be back home and in the jump-up for a while Monday morning.

 

Opening presents at home Monday morning.

 

 Josie got this enormous cardboard house that we've had hiding in the basement since Kyle got it after Christmas last year. 

 

Caleb was so excited to give the presents he got at school for each of us.  Check out how enthused he is for Josie to open this pink hamster toy...and she loves it!  

 

 

At Kyle's family celebration....we didn't get many great pictures.  Kendall wasn't incredibly happy the whole time, so one of us was tending to her.  Here are the 3 bigger girl cousins (of the 7 girls) showing off their new princess gear.

 Sweet little Dylan...

 ...and Peter.

 

Who looks more excited for those ballet slippers?

Once she figured out what they were, she was just as excited as he and wore them the rest of the night (and most of today).

  

If only he had a hat.

 

 The "V-side" cousins. 

L to R: Caleb, Josie, Kendall, Nathan, Aaron, Peter, Daniel, Dylan, Dawson, Jamie.

This week...

 Caleb and Josie got to make a gingerbread house with Abbie.   Thanks to Abbie for planning and doing such great stuff with them, and for taking pictures on our camera for us to see later!

 

The finished house with Christmas trees in the 'yard'

 

 

We started Kendall on a bit of cereal this week just to make sure she's getting enough calories (ha).  She's not quite sure what to think of it and does a lot of lip smacking with the thicker food consistency.

 

 

 

Saturday nights are sure wild over here. 

4 months old and already defying physics

 

If you haven't been around Kendall much, then you've probably avoided her spit up.  If you've been within 6' of her, chances are, you've been hit.  Here, she somehow managed to get the back of her own head.  

not pictured: this morning at church Josie walked under Kendall when Kyle was holding her.  Josie received a shower of goo from her little sister.  Thankfully, Josie handled it pretty well in front of an audience in the church narthex.

  

 This little one is growing so quickly.  She had her 4 month appointment this week and weighed in at 15 lbs, 3oz.  She's 25 inches long/tall.  Both of these put her at about the 75th percentile.  

 She's still very happy and easy to have around.  Kyle and I both think she's more social than we remember Caleb or Josie being as babies because she'll smile and coo at strangers and often will smile at people before the person talks to her or smiles at her.  

Bathing beauty

Thanksgiving Weekend

 In case you don't know Josie very well, she likes to always dress the part (and then some).  Here's what she thought was needed before baking Wednesday morning. 

 Thanksgiving morning ready for church. 

Abbie made cute little Turkey containers with the kids, then had them write some of the things they were Thankful for and collect them in the turkeys.  Here are some of Caleb's...I have no idea what the PLLL one is??? but I am happy to see that he's thankful for himself.

Josie's thankful list...including nailpolish. dress up stuff, TV shows and juice. 

 decorating for Christmas on Saturday morning held their attention just about long enough to get these pictures taken. 

Sky Zone Grand Rapids

Our friends from church are opening a Sky Zone in Grand Rapids (grandrapids.skyzonesports.com).  It's an enormous indoor trampoline park with basketball hoops, dodgeball, a foam pit and just huge open areas to bounce around.  Since Kyle worked on the project we got to attend the pre-opening night for those that were involved in the project. 

 breaking in the new shoes for the place.

 Just to give you an idea of how huge one of the trampoline areas is.

 One of Caleb's favorite moves: bouncing off the wall

 Josie's favorite was jumping into the foam pit

 while Caleb preferred to play dodgeball with some other kids his size. 

3 months (already!)

Kendall is 3 months old today and sweet as ever.  We are loving how much she smiles and 'talks' to us and even sometimes gives us a bit of a giggle.  She is a very happy baby, she loves to eat (then sends about half of it back onto the floor), loves watching Caleb and Josie act silly and being in her jump-up.  She weighs 14.5 lbs at 3 months, and is wearing a lot of 6 month clothes.  We are putting her in outfits that we can remember Josie standing while wearing, so she's quite a lot bigger than her older sister was.

 This one is still silly as ever.  She announced that she was going to get ready for school (her favorite thing to pretend these days).  She then put on: a shirt, leggings, a skirt, 2 tutus, a superhero cape, a necklace, 2 headbands, a princess crown, her backpack and, not-pictured, her bedtime slippers.  Still working on understanding moderation.